One of the things I need to further my SMTP survey is lists of domain names. Lots of domain names. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is interested in such things, so I figured I'd take notes on what the process was to get access to that sort of information for research. This post is a "living document", and I'll update it as I find details of new registrars, or actually experience their service.
Note that almost all of these TLDs use basically identical access agreements. Access is free, but you agree to not hammer the registrar's servers, and not to do something like spamming with the data. Additionally, the domain names can only be redistributed as part of a value-added product, and without the ability to dump all of the data the registrar provided in one pass. I need to think about that bit more, because it probably restricts the way I allow use of my dataset.
| Access | TLD | Registrar | Procedure | Thanks to |
| Yes | .com .net .arpa .root |
Verisign | To get access to the list of domains in these four TLDs, you need to sign the domain access agreement and fax the contract to Verisign. If accepted (they accepted me as an individual with no real problems), they say they will fax login back to you. However, they snail mailed mine to my contact address, for reasons I can't explain. Access is provided by FTP, and you must connect from a static IP which is defined in the access agreement. | |
| No | .edu | eduCause | Access is not available to the list of registered domains, as per US Department of Commerce requirements. The registrar is seeking to be allowed to provide this data in the future, so it might be worth using the contact form to check if things have changed. | |
| Partial | .info .asia |
Afilias | Afilias is an outsourced TLD registrar. They have different access agreement forms for each of the TLDs they manage:
.info: Print out the domain access agreement and fax it to Afilias at +1 215 706 5701. My request for access was not responded to. .asia: Print out the domain access agreement and fax it to Afilias at +1 215 706 5701. Access was granted via an email, the data is exposed over FTP. My request was responded to after a several week delay. |
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| Yes | .mobi | dotMobi | Print out the domain access agreement, fill it out, and then scan / email it to operations@mtld.mobi. They replied within a week or so via email, providing a FTP username and password. Note that they only allow you to download the zone files once a day. | |
| .org | Application form is at http://www.pir.org/PDFs/zone_file_access_agreement.pdf | Andy Warner | ||
| .biz | Application form is at https://www.neulevel.biz/zonefile/ | Andy Warner |
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posted at: 03:12 | path: /research | permanent link to this entry
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